Monthly Archives: June 2015

In the last six months I have been shooting a project which examines Scotland’s links with the slave-based sugar economy of Jamaica in the 18th and 19th Century. I visited Jamaica in early Spring and shot photographs of properties which were owned Scottish plantation-owners owned and which grew sugar-cane using the forced labour of African slaves. Many of these men, grew fabulously wealthy and built elaborate plantation houses, some of which remain, while others have become ruins.

Even though I studied some economic history at university the syllabus never got round to enlightening us as to how a significant part of Scotland’s economic growth in that period derived from the proceeds of wealth created by Scottish plantation owners in the West Indies. For instance it is estimated that about a third of Jamaican sugar was grown by Scottish planters who in turn held tens of thousands of black Africans in bondage while producing this crop. I find it odd and very sad that this period in Scottish history is little known about, though in recent years several historians, like Sir Tom Devine, Stephen Mullen and Sir Geoff Palmer, have been writing revelatory books which are beginning to fill-in the gaps in our knowledge.

As we all know sugar is a commodity with almost addictive powers and in the 18th century people were adding it to baking, jams, tea and drinks and the entire population of Britain craved the sweetness that became affordable to almost everyone thanks to slave labour. However the inhumane system by which sugar was produced was largely overlooked, or was even seen as a necessary evil by those who thought Africans were an expendable race. Many of the Scottish sugar barons in Jamaicans returned to their home country determined to become respectable gentlemen of society. Some even brought slaves back home with them to act as butlers.

To complete this project I decided to find the properties that were bought or originally owned by these “respectable gentlemen”. As in Jamaica, some properties were splendid country estates, others in more dilapidated condition. Several like Rozelle House in Ayrshire and Strathleven House in the Vale of Leven have been taken over by local authorities as the cost of upkeep became too large for subsequent generations.

(c)Stephen McLaren, 2015

Rozelle House, Ayrshire. For those with a sweet tooth you can get a sumptuous cream tea in a stunning garden which was owned by slaveowner, Douglas Hamilton. Although the estate is now owned by Ayrshire Council there is little to alert day-trippers to the origins of Rozelle’s history in sugar and slavery.

Rozelle House (c)Stephen McLaren, 2015

Inveresk Lodge (c)Stephen McLaren, 2015

Inveresk Lodge in Musselburgh, was owed by James Wedderburn, who with his brother John owned several plantations in Jamaica. James Wedderburn had many illegitimate children with his black slaves in Jamaica though he did not bring them back to Inveresk Lodge, presumably so he would not be shunned by polite society.

Ballendean House (c)Stephen McLaren, 2015

Ballendean House in Perthshire was owned by Sir John Wedderburn who owned Glen Isla plantation in Jamaica. Many Scottish plantation owners named their Jamaican properties after locations in Scotland that they knew well. They also gave their surnames to many of their slaves and there are still many people named Wedderburn in Western Jamaica as a result. Ballendean House has lots of land and a lake and is currently owned by a Christian group who let local sports teams use the playing fields.

Strathleven House (c)Stephen McLaren, 2015

Strathleven House is one of the first Palladian designed house in Scotland. It was owned for a period by James Ewing, who owned plantations became Lord Provost of the city. Ewing was instrumental in developing Jamaica Street in Glasgow to mark the trade which benefited the city so well.

Blackness Castle (c)Stephen McLaren, 2015

Blackness Castles was the seat of the Wedderburn family in the middle ages. As the Wedderburns got caught-up in the Jacobite rebellions the castle and land was taken from them by the Crown. On returning to Scotland from Jamaica, John Wedderburn campaigned and won to have the title that went with Blackness Castle to be restored to him.

Gartmore House (c)Stephen McLaren, 2015

Gartmore House near Aberfoyle, was the family seat of the Cunningham-Graham family. Robert Cunningham-Graham made a fortune in Jamaica with his plantation at Roaring Rover and returned to Scotland to become a large land-owner and an MP.

Finlaystone House (c) Stephen McLaren 2015

Finlaystone House was also owned by Robert Cunningham-Graham. It has amazing views over the Clyde and is privately owned by a different family these days.

The Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) (c) Stephen McLaren 2015

The Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) in Glasgow was originally a huge private house by William Cunningham who made his fortune in tobacco trade with America. It was then bought by the merchants of the city and turned into the Royal Exchange. Lord Provost, James Ewing was instrumental in this.

Saughie Estate (c) Stephen McLaren 2015

The Saughie Estate in Clackmannanshire was once owned by Sir James Stirling, who once owned several plantations in Jamaica. On returning to Scotland he became Lord Provost of Edinburgh.

The project which led me to take photos of these locations will be shown at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in September. The exhibition contains work from all four members of Document Scotland and is curated by Anne Lyden, the head of international photography at the SNPG. A radically different selection of images to the one shown here will be presented in the gallery. The exhibition opens to the public on the 25th of Sept and will run for six months. More details here…..https://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/on-now-coming-soon/document-scotland

Once Europe’s largest hot strip mill, the British Steel plant employed thousands of men – and some women – in what was commonly regarded as Scotland’s industrial heart from when it opened in 1957 to its controversial closure in 1992. When it shut, the surrounding area was devastated economically and socially and after the site was cleared in 1996, lay derelict and neglected for many years.

My project looked at the Ravenscraig site today and the people who were endeavouring to bring the area back to life. I photographed and interviewed people who had worked in the plant, as well as those now studying, working and living at the college, sports centre, businesses and housing estates slowly springing up on a site which is double the size of the principality of Monaco.

I discovered that Andy was working on a new piece, which had been commissioned by a group of people connected with the steel industry in Lanarkshire, who wanted to make a commemorative statue to honour those who had lost their lives in the service of iron and steel making in Scotland. When I first visited Andy’s studio workshop in Glasgow, the parallels with steel making were instantly apparent: welding gear, safety equipment, heat and sparks flying everywhere. And before my eyes, rivet-by-rivet, Steel Man was taking shape.

The major difference was scale: whilst Andy painstakingly crafted his statue with the precision of a jeweller, Ravenscraig was a belching furnace, a difficult and dangerous place of work, where many injuries were sustained and lives lost. Notwithstanding that places like Ravenscraig produced the steel which made everything from airplanes to washing machines and powered Scotland’s economy, those that worked there did so out of necessity, not choice. They also had no choice when the plant closed. Some took redundancy, some left the area to find employment and many simply never worked again.

As the statue progressed during the spring of 2015, it became apparent to me that it was not only a timely memorial to the past but a symbol of hope for the future. Ravenscraig today may not be the site of an economic powerhouse, but slowly, surely it is coming back to life. Steel Man is a poignant reminder of what has gone before, but as a piece of art by one of Scotland’s best-regarded contemporary creative minds, it offers us a glimpse of what is possible if a group of people are determined to make something happen. The fundraising effort to bring Steel Man to life involved people from the old industry and those determined that the site should have a positive future.

Steel Man was finally unveiled at a moving and celebratory ceremony in June 2015, when the statue was shown off for the first time. Former steelworkers, trade unionists, religious and civic leaders were joined by local school pupils, supporters of the project and Andy Scott himself, who talked about the statue and how much it meant to him to create. There were prayers and dedications to those who had perished and as the wind whistled around, it was not difficult to image in noise, dust, smoke and heat of Ravenscraig past.

For me, it was another fascinating layer to the story of Ravenscraig, one which I first became acquainted with on a hot July afternoon in 1996, when the Independent commissioned me to photograph the destruction of the iconic cooling towers by controlled explosion. It took me fully two decades to return to Motherwell to take up the story again, but if I hadn’t, I would not have encountered so many interesting and inspirational people, and I would not have met Steel Man either.

The Old Closes and Streets of Glasgow, Thomas Annan’s photographic record of the slums of the city prior to their demolition in accordance with the City of Glasgow Improvements Act of 1866, is widely recognized as a classic of nineteenth-century documentary photography. However, Annan’s achievement as a photographer of paintings, portraits, and landscapes is less widely known. To repair this neglect, Thomas Annan of Glasgow offers a handy, comprehensive and copiously illustrated overview of the full range of the photographer’s work. Successive chapters deal with each of the main fields of his activity, touching along the way on issues such as the nineteenth-century debate over the status of photography — a mechanical practice or an artistic one? — and the still ongoing controversies surrounding the documentary photograph in particular.

Lionel Gossman, a native of Glasgow whose own graduation portrait was made, in 1951, at the studio of T. &. R. Annan in Sauchiehall Street, has spent his career as a teacher of literature at universities in the United States (Johns Hopkins and Princeton). Here he returns to his roots to produce a tribute to one of his city’s most talented and conscientious nineteenth-century artists. He chose to publish with the innovative Open Book Publishers so that Thomas Annan of Glasgow could be read for free online and reach the largest number of readers possible.

It’s always a nice way to start the day when a beautiful new publication arrives on your doorstep. What made yesterday even better was that the publication was unexpected, and that Document Scotland are featured in it.

The Bigger Picture: The Work of Impressions Gallery is a clever and comprehensive retrospective of Impressions Gallery.

“Since 1972 Impressions Gallery has changed the face of photography in the UK”. This beautiful book tells “the story of the gallery’s past, present and future; championing photography in Britain and beyond.”

We’re delighted to be included in such a publication and in such esteemed company as Anna Fox, Murray Ballard, Tessa Bunney, Melanie Friend, Paul Reas and many more. The book includes a spread about Document Scotland’s exhibition “Beyond The Border: New Contemporary photography from Scotland” in the summer of 2014, curated by the gallery’s director, Anne McNeill and is accompanied by a quote about the exhibition from Brian Liddy, Associate Curator of the National Media Museum, “Document Scotland occupies the latest in a long and rich tradition of Scottish documentary photography… the imminence of the vote only makes the exhibition even more pointed and offers a refreshing antidote to the hectoring of politicians on the subject.”

Learn more about Impressions Gallery, their current and previous exhibitions and projects on their website

See more images of the book’s creative design and content here www.behance.net

Photographers

Submissions

We are keen to hear from other Scottish photographers, or photographers working in Scotland, and to see your documentary work. If you are interested in submitting work to be included on the site please contact us with a weblink to your images, bio/CV and synopsis of your work. We look forward to speaking, thank you.